3 years ago
Short Version: my sales rep was very kind, and the...
Short Version: my sales rep was very kind, and the sales manager gladly threw co-workers under the bus.
Long Version:
My wife called in earlier in the day to ask about a car. It was available, but nobody seemed to know anything about it. I drove over an hour that evening with the intent to buy the car then and there. It was a used electric car advertised as a great deal and photos showed the battery still had full capacity (essentially reflecting that it was recently replaced or new). The caveat? The advertised pictures showed the battery fully drained and not fully charged, so you couldn't see the true degraded range.
My wife asked them to charge the car that morning, and they assured her it would be fully charged by the time I got there in the evening.
My sales rep and I took it for a spin. First of all, the car was only charged about 3/4 the way, but I could already tell it had a worn battery pack by the remaining miles. My rep was very kind and polite! He admitted upfront to not knowing much about electric cars in general (Chevy currently sells 2 fully electric models), but was very excited to learn what I knew so he could benefit. We got back after a good amount of riding and then went inside to discuss the paperwork.
I liked the car (even with the incorrectly advertised battery capacity), I liked his attentiveness, I was ready to sign if the deal was good. I gave him a final price I was willing to pay with cash. He went to speak with the sales manager, and things went downhill after that.
The manager said no to my offer and asked me if I would finance the car, then I would gladly get to walk away with the car at... FULL PRICE! Boy, what a deal.
I scoffed and told him that I'm not financing and was ready to pay cash for my offer, and explained why I had that number in mind. The car's battery was NOT new as advertised, and it was actually worn down to about 50% capacity meaning it needs to be replaced soon. "well we have 20 people lined up to buy this car!" Granted, if he did then 18 would turn away and run once they realize the dealership was wrong about the car's true range. The other 2 might be naive enough to buy it. A new battery costs as much as the car!
I was done at this point. I told him to go back there, get me a cash price, and he gladly did so. The price came down by the $1100 "required add-ons" amount, but still not to a realistic price for a used electric car with a worn out battery pack. And he still tried pushing financing.
When I told the manager about the improper advertising, he took no time at all to bus roll the online sales manager by stating outrageous claims like "well let me tell you, he's newer and he has a good resume on paper" and "he has to move 200 cars a week, he's really stressed out" or my favorite one "listen, he's a big guy and he sweats a lot." WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?! The sales manager had ABSOLUTELY ZERO DIGNITY.
I had worked out delivery options with my sales rep, taken the car for a good drive, spent some time inspecting it, but ultimately the sales manager threw me over the edge. This guy took no shame publicly insulting his co-workers in front of a potential client.
The car was mis-advertised to look like a better deal than it really was, and I ended up wasting 2 hours of my time (plus 2 hours driving time).
After saying no, I even felt obligated to educate the sales manager and my sales rep about how to properly look for things like battery degredation and range reduction (simple knowledge really) to make sure they buy the right used electric cars so they don't get a bad deal and then have to fling that bad deal on a sucker buyer. The rep seemed to care, but the manager walked away half way through my 5 minute lesson. I'm trying to help you and help your future EV buying clients, that's rude.
Do these 2 things please:
1. Talk to the floor sales manager, he was very unprofessional and rude to people who work with him
2. Properly educate your employees on electric cars since you sell them